Kentucky Fried Chicken, more commonly referred to as KFC, is a famous brand of fast food restaurants headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, US. Since 2002, the fast food chain has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, with the abbreviated form of its name embraced in 1991.

With US$520.3 million of revenue as of 2007, KFC employs more than 24,000 people all over the world.

DESIGN ELEMENTS OF KFC LOGO

The colonel has always been a distinctive feature of the KFC logo. His face previously had a more serious look but over time, it has been made more friendly. The use of red color has contributed significantly to the bold and lively appearance of the emblem.

Shape and Color of the KFC Logo:

The company name “Kentucky Fried Chicken” was altered to the abbreviation “KFC” from the early 1990s an an attempt to retreat from the fatty connotation of the word “fried”. The KFC logo signifies the founder of KFC, Colonel Sanders. The company has maintained an outstandingly consistent visual identity, while preserving the determining components of Colonel’s face and accommodating the visual shifts of the fast food industry.

The KFC logo has undergone several overhauls, with the earliest one featuring Colonel visage for the first time, being designed in 1952. In 1978, a new logo was introduced with a slight change of typeface. In 1991 the company unveiled a new logo with the abbreviation “KFC” as a measure to distinguish the restaurant as a healthier eating choice. This logo, however, was overhauled and simplified yet again in 1997.

In April 2007, the company unveiled a brand-new logo which displayed the Colonel wearing a red cook’s apron instead of his white suit jacket. The new KFC logo, designed by San Francisco-based Tesser, featured brighter colors and a more distinctive and friendlier visage of the founder, while retaining his definitive black bow tie, glasses and goatee.

The smiling Colonel is displayed against a red background that equates his red apron, with the company name in black thick inscription below his chin. The emblem has dynamism, depth and dimension, without falling back to shading, strongly indicating the fact that a well-conducted arrangement of shapes can convey the intended message more directly and clearly as compared to any detail of shading.

Font of the KFC Logo:

The KFC logo uses a slight modified version of the Friz Quadrata typeface.